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Mom arrested for letting kids play outside

Thanks to YouTube, which has helped a video clip produced by a local
T.V. station go viral, the nation is hearing the story of a mom who was
arrested for letting her kids play outside.

The police officer who arrested Tammy Cooper said he received a call
that her children were playing in the street unsupervised. Cooper said
she was sitting in a chair on her porch a few feet away at the time.

After reviewing the details of the case, the Harris County District
Attorney dropped the charges, but that didn’t prevent Cooper from
spending a night in jail. And now, the La Porte mom is suing the police
department.

According to KPRC,
Cooper said her children, ages 9 and 6, were riding their motorized
scooters in a cul-de-sac when the officer arrived. At that point, she
was informed a neighbor had accused her of child endangerment.

Cooper said she was handcuffed, put in the back of a police car and
forced to spend 18 hours behind bars. She said police also questioned
her terrified children.

“My daughter had him (the police officer) around the leg saying
‘Please, please don’t take my mom to jail. Please, she didn’t do
anything wrong,’” Cooper told KPRC.

The La Porte Police department defended its officer in a statement.

“We are confident in the known actions of the responding officers,”
the department wrote. “In addition, officers did contact the Harris
County District Attorney’s Office while on the scene that evening, upon
which their Office accepted charges of Abandoning a Child on Ms.
Cooper.”

In the video clip above, KPRC can be seen reaching out to the
neighbor who reported Cooper to police. The woman declined to comment.

We sit out front on our driveway with our neighbors and let our kids ride there bikes. They know to move when a car is coming and we are right there. This is stupid. If she was out there watching I see nothing wrong.

What the hell?! Kids play on their motorized toys or with some kind of sports crap in the streets all the time. Especially in cul-de-sacs! While playing on a busy road isn't a good idea, it sounds like they were in an area that isn't really all that busy and they were being supervised.

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